Wednesday, 23 April 2014

April / May Windows Devices

The attached Windows Device Choices – April 2014
spreadsheet contains many new mobile devices. It has been reorganized
with tabs for Device Choices (Commercial Tablets & Phones), Rugged +
Specialized, Retail and Healthcare specific. When I discover specific
unique devices, or accessories, I will continue to update this spreadsheet.

Windows Phone
8.1 – Cool New Features

Last week Windows Phone 8.1
was announced – more personal and even smarter than Windows Phone is today.
Some of the cool things showcased:

·Cortana - your personal digital
assistant. With a name inspired by the popular AI character from Halo, Cortana
builds a relationship with you by learning about your interests and habits and
then brings information to you as you need it. You can talk to Cortana through
your voice or your keyboard, and when she replies you’ll notice she has a real
personality!

·An enhanced Start screen: Between the ability
to customize your Start background with a photo and the option for a third row
of tiles on all phones, Windows Phone 8.1 provides you with an even bolder
canvas for expressing your individuality

·Delighters such as Action Center, which
lets you see notifications from any app, a new Calendar with week view and
integrated weather like you get in Outlook, and the new Word Flow keyboard that
lets you glide quickly over the keys to type and learns your writing style too

·A new Skype app, split Music, Video and
Podcast apps, and cool features that help you get the most your data allowance,
battery life and storage: Data Sense, Wi-Fi-Sense, Storage Sense and Battery
Saver

·Amazing new ways that Windows and
Windows Phone work together: Synced tabs and favourites with Internet Explorer
11 for Windows Phone, newer apps that let you purchase once and use on both
your phone and PC, and theme colour changes that follow you across all your
Windows devices!

And with Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft
has made it easier to connect with business apps and services with suite of new
features, such as VPN and S/MIME support and customizable Mobile Device
Management (MDM) enrollment. With great new features for consumers and
businesses, Windows Phone will become THE #1 phone choice for Enterprise.

Note that Windows Phone 8.1
availability for customers is dependent on the mobile operator or phone manufacturer,
and will vary by country, region, and hardware capabilities. Cortana will
launch shortly here in the US first as a “beta,” and then will launch in the
US, the UK and China in the second half of 2014 with other countries to follow
afterwards into 2015.

Windows 8.1 Update represents a great
collection of improvements that give people even more familiar and convenient
experiences. Microsoft has delivered easier access to your favourite apps and
controls:

·The ability to pin both desktop apps and
apps from the Windows Store to your desktop taskbar

·Power and search buttons in the
upper-right hand corner so you can more quickly shut down and do a search right
from the Start screen

Some of our biggest Windows fans are
diehard keyboard and mouse users, so while we think touch is the future,
for people using a PC without touch or folks who just prefer to mouse/keyboard we
made Windows 8.1 Update easier with enhancements such as:

·Right-click on an app tile to get a menu

·Scrolling to the top of a Windows Store
app to see the familiar Close and Minimize buttons

·Moving the mouse to the bottom of the
screen in a Windows Store app to make the taskbar appear

Apps continue to be a focus area from
the standpoint of making even more apps available to customers as well as
making them easier to find. With Windows 8.1 Update, we’ve made improvements in
the discoverability of apps:

·The Windows Store is now pinned on the
taskbar for fast app discovery

·Apps in the Windows Store show up in
Bing Smart Search results.

One of the best new features for Windows
8.1 Update is Internet
Explorer 11 Enterprise Mode that enables Internet Explorer 8 compatibility
on Internet Explorer 11, allowing enterprises to run their existing web-based
applications seamlessly on Windows 8.1 devices. If you find users are
installing Chrome or Firefox for compatibility, you have to check this out
immediately and test it in your environment. Available now, for Windows
8.1 and Windows 7.

Windows 8.1 Update is available for
consumers on April 8th via Windows Update and Windows Store, for developers on
MSDN/TechNet it was available , with full media published on April 8th, and for
enterprise customers via VLSC on April 14th.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hi, I'm an MVP!

I Work for AMTRA Solutions

About this Blogger

Kevin Kaminski is a seasoned consultant with over 19 years’ experience focusing mainly on Microsoft technologies that range from device management to the data center. Using his experiences from different organizations large and small, he can draw upon practical knowledge that he incorporates into his speaking engagements, training materials, articles and consulting engagements. He currently is a Microsoft MVP for Windows and Devices for IT and has been a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) over the past six years.

Some of Kevin's current consulting engagements include the following roles: Windows 10 consultant with a local property development firm and Configuration Manager consultant with a local consulting company. In addition to his consulting engagements, Kevin spends time blogging and speaking at various technical conferences such as Briforum. Kevin is a past Director of the Calgary IT Pro Community Association and heads up the Calgary Systems Management User Group (a CIC special interest group).